Winter Wonderland
by chocolatequeen
Summary: The Doctor and Rose have fun in the snow.


AN: This is part of A Slight Deviation in Timelines, following A Slight Deviation from the Plan.

 _When it snows, ain't it thrilling,_

 _Though your nose gets a chilling._

 _We'll frolic and play the Eskimo way_

 _Walking in a winter wonderland._

Rose watched the Doctor spin around the console, taking them into flight. He looked just as excited about this trip as he had been to take her to Autumnalis a few months ago.

A bubble of warmth expanded in her chest when she remembered that particular trip. It certainly hadn't gone the way the Doctor had planned, with them getting caught in the rain and taking shelter in an empty house, but in the end, that deviation from his plan had brought them together.

"What are you thinking?" the Doctor asked.

Rose blinked and realised they'd landed and the Doctor was waiting for her by the door. She hopped off the jump seat and jogged down the ramp, then reached up and straightened the lapel on his coat.

"All the fun that can be had when things don't go according to plan," she answered, letting a seductive purr creep into her voice.

The Doctor's eyes darkened, and he didn't fight when she stretched up for a kiss. But when Rose tried to move closer, he pulled back and tapped her on the nose.

"I certainly have good memories of straying from my plans," he agreed. "But can we at least see the planet before we decide to stay in?"

Rose sighed, but in the face of his excitement, she couldn't even pretend to be put out. "Absolutely."

The Doctor bounced on his toes and reached for the door. "Are you ready for this?"

Rose held her arms out and gestured at the thick winter coat he'd insisted she wear, along with the scarf, hat, and mittens. "If I were any more ready, I don't think I could walk," she said dryly. "Come on, where are we?"

She rolled her eyes when he gave her a once over. He'd been very particular about her attire today, and she had to admit, she was curious to see where exactly he'd taken her.

Apparently satisfied that she was dressed warmly enough, the Doctor flung the door open dramatically. Snow swirled into the TARDIS on a gust of wind, and Rose was suddenly grateful for the layers he'd insisted on.

"Come on, Rose!"

Rose grabbed his mittened hand in hers and followed him out into the winter wonderland. She stopped and turned in a slow circle, the Doctor's plan immediately becoming clear to her.

"I don't believe it," she breathed, taking in the picture perfect snowflakes falling gently from the sky. In front of them, trees were dusted with a light coating of snow, and she could just see a small pond through a gap in the trees.

The Doctor bounced on his toes, which looked a little silly when his Chucks had sunk three inches into the snow. "You said you wanted to go someplace that looked like a snow globe," he reminded her.

Rose shook her head. It had been an absent comment, made as they strolled through a market over a month ago. She'd picked up a snow globe and turned it over. As the fake snow fell back to the bottom of the globe, she'd made some offhand comment about wanting to see a place that idyllic someday.

She put her hands on the Doctor's lapels and tugged him down for a kiss. His initial surprised squeak quickly melted into a hum of pleasure, and he pulled her into his arms for a proper snog.

Rose was breathless when they finally pulled back. The Doctor grinned madly and bounced on his toes. "See? Just like a snow globe—even including the kissing couple."

The Doctor laughed when Rose held out her arms and spun in circles in the snow. Perfect snowflakes clung to her eyelashes when she stopped and looked at him again.

"You know, there's one more thing you usually see in snow globes," she said.

He frowned; this was supposed to be the perfect winter holiday. "What's that?" he asked, trying to figure out what he'd forgotten.

Rose bent down and scooped up a handful of snow and shaped it into a snowball. The Doctor's eyes narrowed, and when Rose danced a few feet away from him, he quickly gathered his own handful of snow and tossed his new snowball in the air. "Don't make threats you're not prepared to follow through on," he warned.

A wicked smile crossed her face, and in a startling fast movement, she threw her snowball at him, scooped up another handful of snow, and dove behind a tree—all in less than five seconds.

The Doctor stared after her, blinking away the snowflakes gathering on his eyelids. When she reached the shelter of the nearby trees, she peeked back at him from behind an evergreen bough. "Are you going to come after me, or just stand there gaping?"

He accepted her challenge with a roar and pitched his snowball at her. Rose easily dodged it, and the snowball hit the tree instead, sending a shower of snow down from the branch it hit.

Another snowball came sailing at him, but this time, he was ready. The Doctor wheeled out of its way, then ran across the snow-covered ground, his coat flapping behind him.

Thirty minutes later, the Doctor was pinned behind the snow drift he'd turned into a fort. A snowball flew past his ear, close enough that he could feel the air disturbance on his cheek. Despite the close call, he risked looking over the edge of his fort to shoutin Rose's direction.

"Is that the best you can do, Tyler?"

"Can you throw anything but taunts, Time Lord?" she retorted, seconds before another snowball whizzed through the air and hit him on the shoulder.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and brush the snow from his coat. It was time to put his Final Plan into action.

He quietly rose up just enough to creep along the ground, still hidden by the snowbank. Based on the direction her voice was coming from, Rose was behind a nearby stand of trees. If he could just come around on her other side…

Darting carefully from snowbank to tree to snowbank, it wasn't long before the Doctor had a clear view of the spot where he'd thought Rose was hiding. The only sign that Rose had been there was a slight depression in the snow where she'd knelt behind the largest fir tree.

He'd barely registered his mistake when he felt a small body grab him around the middle and tackle him to the ground. Rose's momentum sent them rolling over the snow-covered ground, and they were both laughing breathlessly when they finally stopped.

Rose propped herself up on her elbows and grinned down at him. "Gotcha!"

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled so he was on top. "Now who has who?" he countered.

Rose narrowed her eyes, and then her leg wrapped around his. A moment later, they rolled again…

And kept rolling, right to the bottom of the hill.

When they finally stopped, the Doctor blinked and shook the snow out of his hair. Rose spluttered when some of it landed on her face, and he carefully brushed it off her cold cheeks.

The Doctor stared down at her. The scene was so classic—holding the woman he loved in his arms after they'd rolled down a hill together. He wished he could declare his feelings as boldly as Westley had, but he couldn't shake the fear that if he said it, he would lose her.

He cleared his throat. "You know, I think—"

"We have each other?" Rose finished, smiling up at him.

He smiled back, then leaned down to catch her lips in a kiss. It didn't matter if they didn't say the words. They both knew: this was true love.


End file.
